One of the things that has been missing on the BeOS platform, either for BeOS, ZETA or Haiku, is pthread, and this was also something that yellowTAB experienced when they were working on a port of OpenOffice. Hence, the development team has released support for phthread. This improvement will be contributed to Haiku as soon as it reaches a more mature state.
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Member since:2005-10-09
I'll try to make this quick. 
#1 - Yes, pthreads == posix threads. They are referring to the API in this case, the "way" in which the developers can deal with threading. Most applications out there were developed for posix threading libraries, so having an implementation makes porting *much* easier, because BeOS's (Haiku's) model is radically different. This brings us to...
#2 - "Threads" are "threads", logically. The exact implementation can be totally different. The BeOS/now Haiku threading API is nothing like the pthread API. They are treated in-kernel the same. They co-exist fine, because at a low level, they are doing the same thing. Bernd & company just made a pthread-implementation so when porting programs from other unices/linux/etc, you don't have to change the threading code (royal PITA.) Native programs will continue to use the BeOS/Haiku thread API, but ported stuff will likely just utilize pthreads.
Hope that helps.
David
PS - This is a very non-technical explanation, please don't nitpick on technicalities, it was simply meant to explain the basics to this fellow.
Member since:2006-09-25
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2005-07-06
Pthreads are posixthreads, right? I assume these are a different kind of threads from the standards BeOS-kernel threads..then how do they coexist? Does the kernel support both? Or are they entirely different beasts?
Someone a lot more knowledgeable than me please elucidate